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A Permanently Temporary Status

In Hong Kong, a glittering metropolitan city in Southern China, there are some 6000 asylum seekers and refugees who left their countries wishing for new lives and beginnings. Despite a seemingly eternal temporary status, they are not allowed to work and have to rely on minimal allowance to make ends meet. They spend years waiting to be recognized and transferred to other countries. Hong Kong has no domestic legislation to determine the fate of asylum seekers as it is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention nor the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees.

Photographs & Text: Billy H.C. Kwok | Website: www.billyhckwok.com